Random Acts of Wildness
Small acts can add up to make a big difference for biodiversity. Please join us in undertaking a ‘random act of wildness’ to support nature in Basingstoke and Deane.
Join a nature group or volunteer your skills to help Natural Basingstoke
https://naturalbasingstoke.org.uk/conservation-groups-sites/conservation-groups/
Arrange a Community Litter Pick
As well as being unsightly, and encouraging anti-social behaviour, litter can cause significant injury to wildlife. Take control of the problem in your neighbourhood by organising a regular litter pick [https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/content/doclib/3283.pdf]
Book a Garden Survey
Not sure what to do to make your garden more wildlife friendly? The council can undertake a free garden survey to provide you with suggestions [https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/garden-survey]
Install a water butt/ build a compost heap
Simple actions to reduce water consumption or turn vegetable waste into valuable compost can indirectly help nature.
Do a favour for your plants, the environment and even your wallet by collecting, storing and recycling rainwater.
Rainwater is not only free, it’s also better for your garden than hard mains water as it won’t leave limescale deposits or increase the alkalinity of the soil. This is particularly important if you want to grow acid-loving plants like blueberries and heathers. Rainwater can also be used for various cleaning jobs within your garden as well as for watering the plants.
A compost heap can provide a refuge and feeding area for creatures such as hedgehogs, beetles, toads, bats, birds, grass snakes, small mammals and slow-worms. Many of these eat insects and slugs and therefore act as natural pest controllers, reducing the need for pesticides and other chemicals in the garden.
For discount on relevant products see: https://www.greatgreensystems.com/basingstoke-and-deane-council/
or https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/southeast/free-water-saving-products?utm_source=southeast&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=waterbutt&utm_content=button
Build a ‘Bug Hotel‘
Insects and other minibeasts need safe spaces to shelter, hide from predators and raise their young. You can help them by building a bug hotel in your garden or outside area.
You can build your bug hotel at any time of year, but you’ll find lots of natural materials around in autumn. This is also the time when many animals look for cosy places to hibernate over winter.
The best bug hotels are eco-friendly, and built using upcycled garden materials, natural items such as leaves and sticks, and re-purposed items from home that are no longer wanted. Anything from wooden pallets, old terracotta pots, old pipes or roof tiles, logs, twigs and pinecones can be used!
See ideas from Buglife on how to approach your build:
https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/2019/07/Build-a-bug-hotel.pdf
Build a wildlife friendly garden
You can get closer to your local wildlife by making your back garden a safe haven for nature – from simply letting your grass grow, taking a break from weeding, or feeding the birds you’ll be helping local wildlife.
Climbers are great way of covering walls and fences to hiding and nesting places for wildlife. Ivy is especially useful as the autumn flowers are sources of pollen for insects and the winter berries are loved by birds. Honeysuckle is also good for wildlife and very attractive. Woodpiles of cut branches, twigs, compost and trimmings can be fantastic places for animals and insects to live, feed and hibernate.
Create a garden pond/ water feature
Creating a pond is one of the most important things you can do for wildlife in your garden. It is vital habitat for wetland wildlife like frogs and dragonflies. It’s also great for many species of garden plant, insect, bird and mammal.
Garden ponds are crucial to keeping wetland wildlife thriving in our towns and cities. Even in the most urban, concreted environment, a garden pond can be a mini-wetland, storing rainfall and releasing it slowly, which helps reduce the effects of heavy rainfall or long dry spells.
Ponds are small, but when you add up all the ponds across the country, they hold a vast amount of water. Yet we’ve lost over 50% of our ponds in the last century, in favour of neat lawns and paving. Even a small container pond will attract wildlife, provided it is properly set up!
Take a look at some of these resources on how to get started, or adapt your existing pond to better help wildlife:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/ponds/wildlife-ponds
https://www.wwt.org.uk/discover-wetlands/gardening-for-wetlands/how-to-make-a-mini-wildlife-pond-from-an-upcycled-container/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20best%20ways,if%20it’s%20in%20good%20condition.
Create space for hedgehogs
Our gardens can be a vital resource for hedgehogs, with surveys revealing that urban hedgehogs are faring better than their rural counterparts. This means we can help vulnerable hedgehogs on our own doorstep with small, simple garden changes.
Our prickly friends appreciate warm spots for hibernation and corridors to enable them to navigate between gardens – building a hedgehog highway is as simple as cutting a hole in the bottom of your fence. The hole doesn’t have to be big at all — a 13cm by 13cm size gap is ideal as this gives hedgehogs ample space to pass through while keeping your pets in (or your neighbour’s pets out!).
You can easily make a hedgehog house using a wooden box filled with dry leaves, straw, or shredded newspaper. Position it in a quiet, sheltered spot, preferably hidden beneath foliage or bushes, and ensure that the entrance is wide enough for a hedgehog to squeeze through but not large enough for predators to enter. By providing hedgehogs with a safe and snug home, you’re giving them the best chance of thriving in your garden. They will also appreciate leaf piles and log piles!
Grow a mini meadow
Allowing native wildflowers to flourish in our gardens helps pollinators which are at the bottom of the food chain and are under significant threat.
While it’s difficult to calculate the exact biodiversity benefits of an individual square foot of wilder garden space, the combined effect of lots of people doing this across a local area can be significant.
Adding native wildflowers into a small area of your garden will provide more food for pollinators like bees and butterflies, as well as other insects. The more wildflowers you plant, the greater your impact will be on your local pollinators.
Even if you live in a flat or don’t have a garden, there are plenty of ways to get involved, from window boxes, joining an allotment, or having a go at planting wildflower plugs in pots indoors – while this will have a lesser impact on pollinators than plants outside, you can pop them by an open window in summer to help passing bees or butterflies!
Help Flying Friends
From placing a bird table or bird bath into your outdoor space, to installing bird and bat boxes, there’s lots you can do to help creatures that fly!
Birds have to lower their guard as they bend down to sip water. They’re even more at risk when bathing, as their feathers are sodden with the water, and the sound of the splashing alerts nearby predators. Despite the danger, they must bathe or their feathers will get dirty and dishevelled. Summer is a particularly critical time, as water can be scarce for birds.
What birds really want from a bird bath is a wide, safe and shallow puddle with a rock or two for perching on. That way, they won’t get out of their depth, there’s plenty of space to flap about, and every chance to do it in the company of others, which is always safer.
Alternately, give birds a cosy place to rest and breed by building them a cosy nest box. Having plenty of safe places to nest will encourage birds to return to your garden year after year. Similarly, building a bat box provides a safe and beneficial roost for bats, helping to conserve these important pollinators and pest controllers.
Specialist boxes for swifts can be obtained from here: https://www.hampshireswifts.co.uk/nesting
Participate in a corporate work party
Does your firm enable staff to spend time out of the office to support local causes?
Why not suggest to your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) lead, that your employer participates in corporate work parties at your nearest conservation site. Your employer can get further information on this from WildlifeConservation@basingstoke.gov.uk
For organisations based in the borough looking for volunteer opportunities for employees as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, the council can organise and deliver corporate volunteer days undertaking practical conservation work in one of the council’s green spaces.
Participate in Citizen Science
Finally, for the budding (and actual!) scientists amongst you, why not participate in a citizen science project? These projects are a vital way to support nature’s recovery by increasing understanding of the current state of species and habitats and enabling improvement measures to be assessed and developed. Here’s some suggested projects:
Nature’s Calendar (Woodland Trust)
Window Wildlife Spotter (HIWWT)
Invertebrate Insight (HIWWT)
Plant Plotter (HIWWT)
The Big Garden Bird Watch (RSPB)
Hedgehog Street
Hedgelife Help Out (CPRE)
Nature Overheard (Natural History Museum)
The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (PTES)
BeeWalk (Bumblebee Conservation Trust)
Garden Butterfly Survey (Butterfly Conservation)
Urban Pond Count (Freshwater Habitats Trust)
National Plant Monitoring Scheme (Plantlife)
GenePools (Natural History Museum)
Thanks to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust for the name – here’s a link to their ’30 days Wild’ campaign which begins in June!